Wild in Washington - profiles of all 30 Wilderness areas in the state
If you are an Alpine Lakes lover or a Glacier Peak junkie, it might surprise you to learn that there are 29 other Wilderness areas in Washington state! Only three states have more Wilderness acreage than Washington. Maybe it's time to dust off those other topo maps and expand your hiking horizons into the Colonel Bob, the William O., or our favorite Wilderness name, the Noisy-Diobsud!
Wilderness is land set aside by Congress, where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by people, and where people themselves are visitors who do not remain. The Wilderness Act, which grants power to Congress to permanently protect such areas, became law in 1964.
What are the smallest and largest wilderness areas in Washington? San Juan Islands is the smallest, comprising just 353 acres of bird habitat on 83 small islands and rocks within San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge. The largest, 876,669 acres, is the Olympic Wilderness, which makes up 95 percent of Olympic National Park, and which was officially designated by Congress in 1988.
Read Washington Trails Association's profiles of all 30 of Washington's unique Wilderness areas
